Non-refillable closures



June 12, 1956 Filed Nov. 16. 1951 ml must; In \9 52 1;

E. GREENE NON-REFILLABLE CLOSURES 2 Sheets-Sheet l face-woe m GREBV: I i /Zm ZZMAM INVENTOR.

June 12, 1956 E. GREENE 2,750,061

NONREFILLABLE CLOSURES Filed Nov. 16. 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I c- C a 12 f 6 l 314/ r! l .774 40 IN V EN TOR. 0 GA'WORT/l Gneew:

20 4 dZwmM United States. Patent NON -REFILLABLE CLOSURES Edgeworth Greene, Great Notch, N. J., assignor to Inter- Seal Corporation, Spring Lake, N. 3., a corporation of Delaware Application November 16, 1951, Serial No. 256,768

8 Claims. (Cl. 215-22) have described a non-refillable closure, which is extremely sensitive in action and successfully resists refilling of a bottle, on which it is mounted, by the use of vacuum, pressure, gravity, shaking, or a combination of such expedients. The patented closure also permits free pouring, even though a vacuum may adventitiously develop within the bo tle, as a result of climatic conditions. The patented closure includes a valve, which seats tightly enough to prevent entrance of liquid into the bottle and is held against its seat by atmospheric pressure, when a subatmospheric pressure develops within the vessel as a result 'of a drop in temperature. Difliculties in pouring, which would otherwise result from the holding of the valve on its seat because the valve is subjected to a greater pressure above than below it, are overcome by embodying in the valve the invention of Patent 2,278,924, which was granted April 7, 1942, and for which I was one of the coapplicants.

The valve in the closure of Patent 2,497,599 is made in two parts, the inner of which is the valve proper and engages the seat and the outer of which is a float. The valve proper has a head engaging the seat and a hollow stem rising from the head and having a small port at its free end. The float has a recess receiving the stem and,

when the bottle is upright, the float rests on top of the stem and a small projection within the recess closes the port. If the bottle is inverted for pouring at a time when a partial vacuum has developed within it, the vacuum acting through the small port on the projection is not effective to hold the float in place and the float separates from the valve. the port and stem at once breaks the vacuum and the valve leaves the seat, so that the contents of the vessel may be freely poured.

The present invention is directed to the provision, of a .valve assembly for use in non-refillable closures, which is similar to that of the patents, in that closures containing the new valve satisfactorily inhibit refilling and, at the .same time, permit free pouring. The new valve assembly is, however, less expensive to produce than that of the patents, because it is of one-piece construction and thus can be made of a suitable plastic material in a single molding operation.

The valve assembly of the invention includes a member having a discharge opening, which is surrounded and,

in one form of the assembly, partially defined by a seating surface. Flow through the opening is controlled by a valve member having a surface, which engages a zone The atmosphere entering the bottle through Patented June 12, 1956 2 on the seating surface, when the valve is seated and closes the opening. The part of one of the members, on which one of the co-operating surfaces is formed, is made of a relatively easily deformable resilient material and the surface on the part is formed with a narrow shallow normally open passage, which extends across the zone of contact of the cooperating surfaces, when the valve is seated. The part of the other member, on which the other cooperating surface is formed, is preferably made of a material, which is relatively hard and resistant to deformation. When 'the valve is on its seat and the passage is open, a vacuum developed in the capped bottle as a result of a drop in temperature is quickly broken, when the cap is removed, by air flowing through the passage. At the same time, the passage is of such small cross-section that liquid retained in the closure above the valve will either not flow through the passage under gravity or else will flow through the passages at an extremely slow rate.

If pressure is applied to liquid above the valve to force the liquid through the passage, the pressure causes a deformation of the part, in which the passage is formed, with the result that the passage is constricted and flow through the passage is either reduced or wholly cut off. When the pressure on the liquid is relieved, the deformed part resumes its original condition.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a view in vertical section of a non-refillable closure embodying the valve assembly of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the cover member of the closure; 7

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional View through the closure attached to a bottle inverted for pouring; I

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of the button or fly-trap;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of a modified form of the valve assembly;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view on the line 66 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary top plan view of the valve;

Fig. 8 is fragmentary side elevational view of the valve, showing the face;

Fig. 9 is a sectional view on the line 99 of Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a view in side elevation of a modified form of the valve;

Fig. 11 is a bottom plan view of the valve shown in Fig. 10; and

Fig. 12 is a fragmentary sectional view on the line 12-12 of Fig. 10 showing a valve of the modified form in contact with its seat.

The non-refillable closure illustrated in Fig. 1 comprises a casing 10 of generally cylindrical form, which is insertable into the neck 11 of a bottle. At its lower end, the casing has an opening 12, the upper edge 13 of which is rounded off to form a valve seat surrounding and partly defining the opening. The inner surface of the casing is formed with guiding projections taking the form of spaced ribs 14 extending upwardly from the seat and, at its upper end, the casing has a circumferential flange 15, which seats upon a gasket 16 resting on the end of the bottle neck.

A housing or cover 17 rests upon the gasket 16 outside flange and is held in place by a metal ferrule 18, the upper edge of which i embedded within the outer wall of the cover. The lower end of the ferrule is telescoped over the neck of the bottle and is spun over a circumferential rib 19 on the outer surface of the bottle neck to hold the cover in place. The lower end of the cover telescopes over flange 15 of the casing and engages the top of gasket 16 and the cover has an internal shoulder engaging the top of flange 15 and holding it tightly against gasket 16. At its upper end, the cover has a section 20 of reduced diameter defining a pouring passage 21, the upper end of which is flared. The section 20 is formed \with an external screw thread 22 and a metallic cap 23 containing a liner or gasket 24 is threaded on section to close the pouring passage, when the bottle is not in use.

A guard .plate 25, which is of less diameter than the pouring passage, is mounted within the section 20 of the cover and the plate is formed integrally with a plurality of radial ribs 26, which are integral with the cover and extend inwardly from the wall of section 20 of the cover and also from the Wall of the main part of the cover below section 20. The inner edges of the ribs extend downwardly and outwardly, and the ribs extend upwardly above the top of the guard plate, so as to provide a plurality of openings 27, through which liquid passing upwardly between the ribs and around the edge of the guard plate may flow over the top of the plate to pass out through the pouring passage 21. The guard plate has a central opening 28 flared out at its lower end and a button or fly trap, which is of greater diameter than the pouring passage 21, is supported on top of the guard plate, when the bottle is upright, on a plurality of radial ribs 29. The button has a central stem 30, from which the ribs project, and the stem is hollow and extends through the opening 28 in the guard plate. The lower end of the stem is flared out, so that the button is free to move outwardly relative to the plate but is not detachable therefrom.

A valve 31 is loosely mounted to reciprocate freely within the casing 10 and closes the opening 12, when the bottle is upright. The valve is of cup-shaped section, and it is provided with a central upward extension 32 terminating in a central post 33, from which radiate ribs 34. A ball weight 35 normally rests on top of the post to hold the valve against the seat 13, and the tops of the post and ribs are slightly dished to center the ball. At its lower end, the valve has an axial flange 36, which is of smaller diameter than the opening 12 and is encircled by a frusto-conical face 37, which engages the seat 13 with an approximately line contact, when the valve is in position to close opening 12. One or more passages or channels 38 are formed to extend axially valve is made of a material, which is relatively easily deformable and resilient.

There are various synthetic resins, which have characteristics making them suitable for use for the valve casing and valve, but it is preferred to make the casing of polystyrene and the valve of polyethylene, since polystyrene is sufficiently resistant to deformation and polyethylene is relatively easily deformable and resilient and its specific gravity is slightly less than that of a IOU-proof alcoholic beverage, so that a polyethylene valve is buoyant in such a liquor. However,

the casing may be made of polyethylene and the valve of polystyrene. The passage or passages 38 are formed in the member of the valve assembly, which is relatively easily deformable and thus may be made across the seat 13 of the casingor across the face 37 of the valve, de-

pending on which member of the assembly is made of the easily deformable material. The preferred construction involves making the casing of polystyrene and the valve of polyethylene, and forming the passages across the valve face.

When a bottle is equipped with a non-refillable closure, such as that described, which includes the valve assembly of the invention, a vacuum developed within the capped bottle as'a result of a drop in temperature is quickly broken, when the cap is removed, by air entering the bottle through the passage. Accordingly, when the bottle is inverted to the position shown in Fig. 3, and the ball weight falls away from the valve, forcing the button outwardly to the full limit of its travel, the valve cannot be held on its seat by a greater pressure outside the valve than behind it and the valve moves away from its seat, being guided by the edges of ribs 14 in such movement. The contents of the bottle may then be freely poured, with the liquid passing between ribs 14 and around the valve, and between ribs 26 and around the edge of the guard plate. The liquid flows through openings 27 and between the ribs 29 of the button, to be discharged through the end of pouring passage 21.

The passages 38 are of small cross-section and shallow and narrow. The greatest width of a passage is approximately .006 to .008" and its depth is about .005" or .006". If an attempt is made to refill the bottle by filling the closure, while the bottle is erect, and permitting liquid to enter the bottle by gravity, either no liquid will flow through the passages or else the liquid will flow through the passages so slowly, that refilling in this way is impractical. If any method of refilling is utilized, in which the valve is subjected to pressure urging it against its seat, the deformable part of the valve assembly immediately becomes deformed to an extent sulficient to constrict the passages to inhibit flow and to shut ofl flow entirely, when sufficient pressure is applied.

The valve assembly shown in Fig. 5 includes a casing 10 having an opening 12' surrounded by an internal flange 39, the outer surface of which is rounded off to form a valve seat 13. One or more passages 38', which are similar to passages 38, are formed to extend across seat 13'. A valve 31 co-operates with the seat to control flow through opening 12, and the valve is formed with an internal frusto-conical face 37 corresponding to the face 37 of valve 31.

The casing member in the valve assembly shown in Fig. 5 is made of relatively easily deformable resilient material, and valve 31 is preferably formed of a relatively hard material resistant to deformation. When the valve is in position to close the opening with its face 37 in engagement with a zone of seat 13 on the casing, the passage or passages 38' extend across the zone and are normally open. If the pressure is applied to the valve in an attempted refilling operation, such pressure causes a deformation of flange 13 on the casing, and passages 38' are constricted so as to inhibit or wholly cut off tfow of liquid therethrough. When the pressure is removed, the flange 39 resumes its original position with the passages open to permit air flow therethrough.

The valve 31a, shown in Fig. 10, is similar to that shown in Fig. 8 and has a frusto-conical face 37a. Across this face are formed one or more relatively straight grooves or passages 40, each passage having approximately the shape of a section of a helix of flat pitch, so that the passages are relatively long and the outer end of each passage is laterally offset from the inner end. Valve 31a is employed with a casing 10a similar to casing 10 and having a seating surface 13a rounded off so that, when the valve is in closing position, as shown in Fig. 12, its face 3711 makes substantially a line contact with a zone on seat 13a indicated by the line 0-0 in Fig. 10. It will be observed that the passage 40 extends at an angle across the valve face 37a between the upper and lower edges thereof. Accordingly, when the valve is seated, the passage lies at an oblique angle to and extends across the zone of contact between the valve and its seat and the median or contact line of the zone intersects the edges of the upper and lower Walls of the passage at points lying on line aa and b-b, Fig. 1.0. The distance between the lines is greater than the width of the passage at its top.

In the valve assembly shown in Fig. 12 valve 31a controlling flow though opening 12a is preferably made of the relatively easily deformable resilient material, and easing 10a is made of the relatively hard material-resistant to deformation. If desired, the casing may be made of the deformable material and the valve of the hard material, but, in that event, the helical passage 40 is formed in the valve seat on the casing.

The helical passage formed across either the valve face or the valve seat has been found to be preferable to a passage, such as passage 38 or 38', which extends across the zone of contact between the valve and seat at right angles to the plane of the zone. With either form of passage, a vacuum, which develops in the capped bottle as a result of a drop in temperature, is broken by flow of air through the passage into the bottle, when the cap is removed and, when the passage is of helical form, it may be larger in cross-section than a straight passage 38 and have a maximum width up to about .012" and a maximum depth of up to about .010. The greater cross-section of the helical passage thus permits a greater inflow of air into the bottle and a more rapid breaking of any climatic vacuum.

Despite its greater cross-section, a diagonal passage of the approximate dimensions described is as easily constricted as a straight passage of smaller dimensions by deformation under pressure of the part of the valve assembly, in which the passage is formed. While the reasion that a diagonal passage across the zone of contact between the valve and its seat is superior to a straight passage is not entirely clear, I believe that the superiority arises from the fact that the plane of the zone of contact of the valve and its seat crosses the passage at an oblique angle, so that the outer edges of the opposite walls of the passage are separated in the plane a greater distance than the separation of those edges measured along a line normal thereto. As a result, the forces applied to the valve in pressure methods of refilling have large components acting transversely of the passage and tending to constrict it and inhibit flow therethrough. Moreover, when the passage is formed diagonally across the contact zone between the valve and its seat, the passage is longer than a straight passage and liquid above the valve and subjected to pressure must make an abrupt change of direction as it enters the passage. As the result, a greater force is required to force the liquid through the helical passage than through a straight passage, and such increased force quickly causes deformation of the Walls of the passage and constricts it to inhibit and eventually shut ofi flow.

Certain features of the closure disclosed but not claimed in this application are disclosed and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 248,950 filed September 29, 1951, now Patent No. 2,673,655.

I claim:

1. A non-refillable fitment for a container which comprises a valve assembly including a valve seat member having an opening and formed with a seating surface, and a valve member loosely mounted for free reciprocation relative to said valve seat member and cooperating therewith to control flow through the opening, the valve member having a surface formed to engage a zone of the seating surface to close the opening, said surface of said valve member being made of a relatively easily deformable resilient material and having a normally open passage of relatively small cross-sectional area extending across the zone at an oblique angle, when the surfaces are in contact, the passage being constrictable by deformation of said deformable material, when pressure is applied to the valve member tending to force it against the first member.

2. A non-refillable fitment for a container which comprises a valve assembly including a valve seat member having an opening and formed with a seating surface, and a valve member loosely mounted for free reciprocation relative to said valve seat member and cooperating therewith to control flow through the opening, the valve member having a surface formed to engage a zone of said seating surface to close the opening, one of the members being made of a relatively easily deformable resilient material and the other of a relatively hard material resistant to deformation, the member made of thedeformable material having a normally open passage of relatively small cross-sectional area extending across the zone at an oblique angle, when the surfaces are in contact, the passage being constrictable by deformation of said deformable material, when pressure is applied to the valve member tending to force it against the first member.

3. A nonrefillable fitment for a container comprising a housing, means for securing the housing to an open neck of the container, a valve assembly at least partially within the housing, said valve assembly including a valve seat member having an opening for the egress of liquid from the container and formed with a seating surface surrounding the opening, a valve member loosely mounted for free reciprocation relative to the seat member and cooperating therewith to control flow through the opening, said valve member having a surface adapted to engage the seating surface, means for automatically moving said valve member into engagement with said seat member When the valve assembly is in upright position, buoyant means for acting on the valve to move it to seating position when the valve assembly is inverted and flooded with liquid, the part of one of the members having said surface being of relatively easily deformable resilient material and having a passage formed in said surface of relatively small cross-sectional area and extending across the zone of contact of said members when engaged for the admission of air into the container, said zone of contact between said members, when said part is in normal undeformed condition, being relatively long with respect to said passage width crossing said zone of contact, said valve seat member and valve member telescoping one within the other and engaging with a wedging action and said valve member being deformable under pressure tending to force the valve member against the valve seat to constrict said passage.

4. A nonrefillable fitment for a container comprising a housing having means for securing it to an-open neck of the container, and a valve assembly at least partially within the housing, said valve assembly including a valve seat member of relatively hard material having an opening for the egress of liquid from the container, said seating surface having the form of a surface of revolution and surrounding the opening, and a valve member loosely mounted for free reciprocation relative to the valve seat member, said valve member having a surface of relatively easily deformable resilient material normally adapted to engage the seating surface throughout substantially a complete zone of said seating surface, means for automatically moving said valve member into engagement with said seating surface when the valve assembly is in upright position, said surface of the valve member having at least one normally open passage of relatively small cross-sectional area extending across the zone of contact between said surfaces of the valve seat member and the valve member when said surfaces are in contact, for the admission of air into the container, the zone of contact between said members, when said valve member is in normal undeformed condition, being relatively long with respect to a passage width crossing said zone, said valve seat member and valve member telescoping one within the other and engaging with a wedging action along substantially a line contact, said valve member being deformable under pressure tending to force the valve member against the valve seat member to constrict said passage.

5. A nonrefillable fitment for a container comprising a housing, means for securing the housing to an open neck of the container, and a valve assembly at least partially within the housing, said valve assembly including a valve seat member having an opening for the egress of liquid from the container and formed with a seating surface surrounding the opening, and a valve member loosely mounted for free reciprocation relative to the seat member, automatic means for moving the valve member into engagement with the seat member when the fitment is moved from an inverted pouring position into a horizontal position, said valve member and valve seat member having surfaces respectively formed to engage each other along substantially a line contact, the valve member being .responsive to forces of buoyancy acting to move it to a seating position when the valve assembly is inverted and flooded with liquid, the part of one of the members having said surface being of rela tively easily deformable resilient material and having a passage formed in said surface of relatively small crosssectional area and extending across the line of contact between said surfaces when they are engaged, for the admission of air into the container, said line of contact, when said resilient surface is in normal undeformed condition, being relatively long with respect to the width of said passage, and the resilient surface being deformable to constrict said passage under pressure tending to force the valve-member against the seating surface of the valve seat member.

6. The fitment of claim in Which the seating surface has the form of a surface of revolution and said surface on the valve member has a like shape except for the passage therein.

7. The fitment of claim 5 in which the seat member is of relatively hard material, and the valve member is of relatively easily deformable resilient material.

8. A nonrefillable fitment for a container comprising a housing, means for securing the housing to an open neck of the container, and a valve assembly at least partially within the housing, said valve assembly including a valve seat member of relatively hard material having an opening for the egress of liquid from the container, the seating surface of the valve seat member having the form of a surface of revolution and surrounding the opening, and a valve member loosely mounted for free reciprocation relative to the valve seat member, said valve member having a surface of relatively easily deformable resilient material normally adapted to engage the hard seating surface of the other member, means for automatically moving said valve member into engagement with said seating surface when the valve assembly is moved from an inverted pouring position into a horizontal position, said surface of the valve member having at least one normally open passage of relatively small cross-sectional area extending across the zone of contact between said surfaces of the valve seat member and the valve member when said surfaces are in contact, for the admission of air into the container, the zone of contact between said members, when said valve member is in normal undeformed condition, being relatively long with respect to a passage width crossing said zone, said valve seat member and valve member telescoping one within the other and engaging with a wedging action along substantially a line contact, said valve member being deformable to constrict said passage under pressure tending to force the valve member against the valve seat member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 223,374 Moore Jan. 6, 1880 1,252,411 Dickinson Jan. 8, 1918 1,257,173 Allie Feb. 19, 1918 1,997,365 Howard Apr. 9, 1935 2,113,615 Farmer Apr. 12, 1938 2,128,050 Landis Aug. 23, 1938 2,298,655 Segerlund Oct. 13, 1942 2,387,573 Ganson Oct. 23, 1945 2,424,108 Merten July 15, 1947 2,497,599 Greene Feb. 14, 1950 

